A week later, and on taking over the morning watch, Jack was delighted to find that during the night several black-and-white speckled birds, styled 'cape pigeons,' were following the ship. All that day the beautiful little creatures continued to arrive in large flocks, and it did not require any stretch of imagination to believe that, as Jack Clewlin said, 'a feathered snowsquall was driving up astern.'
They flew quite close to the ship, their beady black eyes always on the watch for anything thrown overboard, and their shrill cries of delight or disappointment mingled with the ceaseless 'boom boom' of the rolling waves.
One of the saloon passengers immediately determined to shoot some of the birds.
Captain Thorne raised strong objections, and also added that to do so would be inviting misfortune on the ship, or to some of the people on board.
The younger and less thoughtful of his hearers laughed at 'the funny sailor superstition.'
Before more could be said, however, the 'sportsman' raised his fowling-piece, and in rapid succession brought down two of the birds.
The indignation of the captain was withering.
'You should be ashamed of yourself, sir!' he hotly exclaimed. 'People such as you never seem happy unless they are killing or maiming the most beautiful of God's creatures. What harm did those little birds do you? Your selfishness is appalling, for you cannot even recover what you kill. With all your boasted cleverness you are not able to restore the life in what the Almighty has placed on this sea for His own wise purposes.'
The captain spoke with considerable feeling, and no more birds were slain. Some of the passengers who had been quickest to ridicule the idea that it would be unlucky to shoot the birds now looked somewhat shamefaced, and also realised that not only was it a wanton destruction of life, but that the entire crew seemed deeply offended.
Day by day the 'Silver Crown' drew farther southward, and the weather became correspondingly stronger and colder. The sea, too, began to run with considerable weight, and the westerly wind steadily increased.